


Where Eagles Fly

by emmy4v



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Broadway, M/M, Musicals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-10-19
Packaged: 2018-02-12 00:57:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2089689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmy4v/pseuds/emmy4v
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine Anderson - NYADA graduate, New Yorker and Broadway star. Could all this really all be possible? When Blaine lands an audition for a leading role on Broadway straight out of college he doesn't think life can get any better. It seems that fate has dealt him a winning hand when a co-star he has been destined to meet turns his already rotating life right on it's head and teaches Blaine that you don't have to be the star to set the stage alight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so be nice (Blaine would want you to be). I have a fair few chapters written and aim to post a couple a week. Enjoy this this preview. Reviews make me happy!

** Chapter 1**

The audition can’t have gone that badly. Surely they’d call even if it was just to say “sorry” and “you were great but we’ve decided to take it in another direction”, which everyone knows is bullshit and just means you simply weren’t good enough. It had been 3 days now and Blaine still hadn’t heard back. Honestly he’d been feeling pretty good when he walked out of the theatre. He’d hit the note at the end of Corner Of The Sky with breath to spare and climbed up that pole like a freaking spider monkey. Yes he missed a few steps in the choreography audition but he’s only human, surely the directors had to see his potential.  
  
Blaine was used to being the star, a trait that annoying as it was, meant he just might be fierce enough to survive in the cut throat world of Broadway. He was finding this trait hard to channel as he sat at his tiny breakfast bar, chin on his folded arms, staring at the phone that refused to light up. He should keep busy, he should tidy his apartment or write some music or do anything more productive than stare at the piece of technology that held the answer to his future. So he got up, grabbed a bottle of water, looked at the pile of dishes to be done, sat back down and stared at the phone. Minutes or hours later, he didn’t really know, he was dragged out of a very vivid day dream involving a standing ovation and full theatre by the shrill sound of his phone ringing. He used to change it weekly to whatever his favourite song was at the time but found he’d get so absorbed in singing along or dancing to it that all his calls went to voicemail. His stomach dropped as he saw the caller ID.  
  
“What do you want Seb? I’m busy!” he answered, rolling his eyes when he heard traffic in the background. This was going to be another one of those one sided conversations where Sebastian tells him that they’re going out tonight and then pretends he can’t hear when Blaine tries to make excuses before hanging up.  
  
“Blaine...” he drawled, “so here’s the thing, I have not been drunk in approximately 32 hours and as a failed actor who just finished a run as a chorus member with one line in an amateur production of Evita, I feel that it’s a travesty that I am not currently wasting my feeble barista wages on forgetting that I am a barista.”  
  
“As wonderful as that sounds Sebastian, I am waiting for a phone call and you are blocking my line with your whining,” Blaine replied chewing on the skin around his thumb nail.  
  
“I’m not whining, I’m stating the truth and you can bring your phone because mobile phones are, despite popular opinion, mobile! I’ll text you the address.”  
  
“No, seriously... Sebastian! Shit, again!” He shouted to the audience of the one live fish remaining in the tank acting as a bookend as Sebastian hung up. He could have predicted that one.  
  
He sank his head back onto the counter and considered the pile of dishes again before dramatically standing up, shrugging to no one in particular and heading to the shower. His phone pinged informing him to the message probably containing the address of a bar where the beer is cheap with an atmosphere to match. He ran back to grab it and positioned it on the shelf next to the sink.  
  
You know what they say about a watched kettle never boiling? Well Blaine was happily belting out a chorus of Don’t Stop Me Now when his phone bounced to life, edging towards the end of the shelf. He jumped out of the shower catching it as it fell, flipping it around a few times in his hand before ramming it to his ear and steadying himself on the towel rail.  
  
“Hi, Blaine Anderson here!” he tried to sound as composed as possible after flying across his bathroom with soap in his eyes.  
  
“Blaine! Answer your fucking texts! Are you coming or not?” Well that wasn’t worth risking death by slippery bathroom tiles. Blaine rolled his eyes.  
  
“Yes, I am coming. I am making myself pretty as we speak, now kindly fuck off so I can get the shampoo out of my eyes.”  
  
“Get that ass into some of those bright tight pants you’re so fond of and get over here! I’m going to start without you.” Sebastian barked into the phone.  
  
“I don’t doubt that you will”, Blaine said before hanging up and getting back in the shower. Attempting to say a polite goodbye to Sebastian got old years ago, the guy didn’t really believe in goodbyes, or manners.  
  
Towel secured around his waist, he padded across the floorboards to the bedroom section of the kitchen. In New York it turns out open plan isn’t only desired, but it’s the only option when you’re not some kind of millionaire. He sent a quick text to Rachel asking her about her plans for the evening. He could do with someone to talk to when Sebastian overdoes it and passes out somewhere in an hour or so. He picked out an outfit, the pants weren’t quite the brightest he owned, got dressed and tamed his curls into submission with a fair amount of hair gel. He’d never really knew how much food to give the fish but he chucked a bit out of the container into the water, fish were a stupid idea anyway. Grabbing his keys, wallet and phone, he slammed the door and headed downstairs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for a dose of Rachel Berry! Enjoy :)

**Chapter 2**  
  
Not 2 hours later he found himself sitting opposite Rachel in a diner on 8th. The bar was classy by Sebastian’s standards but Sebastian also exceeded his normal standards of drunkenness and was already tucked up in bed in his apartment a few blocks away. Blaine had handed him to his roommate at the building’s entrance, mouthing “Sorry!” before leaving as soon as he had prised his cardigan from Sebastian’s grip. It wasn’t that he had a problem with Sebastian. When they had moved to the city a few summers ago with big city dreams and small town upbringings, they had loved everything about their new life together. They weren’t going to end up doomed like all those other high school romances because they’d done it, they’d actually got out and moved to New York. It turned out that Blaine studying at NYADA while Sebastian studied the nightlife of New York didn’t help their relationship very much. Blaine helped Sebastian find a new roommate, one of the tech majors he knew from his first term production, and they went their separate ways with surprisingly little argument or drama. They agreed it was for the best as they shaped their life to fit their aspirations. Blaine still wasn’t sure exactly what Sebastian’s aspirations were, currently he seemed to want to be an actor but he was sure he mentioned something about NYU and directing last week.  
  
“Sometimes they don’t get back to you for up to a week. It’s a big decision they have to make, you have to understand that!” Rachel said stirring her soy, non fat, sugar and taste free coffee.  
  
Rachel was a TA in his junior year at NYADA. She graduated last year and had just landed the role of Fanny in an upcoming revival of Funny Girl. Her rehearsal schedule was crazy and Blaine was surprised she could even find time to see him but as far as Rachel was concerned, anyone with a call back for the lead in Pippin was worthy of her time and a connection she wanted to keep.  
  
“I know I’m being stupid but I want this. I just keep going over my audition over and over in my head and thinking if I’d just landed that move more solidly or toned down the vibrato on that note or had worn my hair differently it could have made such a difference”, he complained staring into his coffee cup.  
“I’m sure they’ll get back to you soon Blaine, not just anyone walks straight out of college into a call back for a Broadway lead”, she smiled with the certainty of someone who had done just that. “But if you want me to I’ll ask Kurt to see what he can find out.”  
  
“Your roommate? What does he have to do with it?” Blaine asked, smoothing down a curl making an escape attempt.  
  
“He’s a swing in Pippin. Didn’t I already tell you that?” she said rising from the table and going in for a hug, “oh it must have slipped my mind but I’ll remember to ask him. Well it was lovely to see you Blaine, do keep in touch and let me know how it goes.” She was just like Sebastian for goodbyes, but with Rachel it was more like she had calculated the amount of time saying goodbye would take and had decided she could better use her time elsewhere. Blaine watched as she thanked the man holding the diner door for her and shouted for a cab. One pulled up almost straight away. Blaine still hadn’t figured out how to do that.  
  
How had she failed to mention that she lived with someone on the cast? Blaine knew she was often wrapped up her own little world of ‘being Rachel Berry’ but that’s something she definitely could have mentioned. He paid for the coffees, felt for the piece of paper in his pocket and tapped the number into his phone.  
  
“Hey, remember me?”  
  
“Of course babe, where’d you go?”  
  
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll meet you back outside the bar in 5.”  
  
-  
  
As walk of shames go it could have been worse. Eleven blocks in fairly casual clothes after most of the office workers were already at their desks for the day. When you hook up with a friend of a friend they always seem to be a bit more chivalrous, something Blaine appreciated. Trust Blaine to execute a one night stand in the most proper way possible. It had done a damn good job of taking his mind off the audition and the slight guilt he often found himself feeling whenever Sebastian did one of his drunken cry out for help acts. He called into the coffee shop across from the NYADA studios and searched his pockets, finding a few stray bills.  
  
“Hey, could I get a medium drip to go?” he asked the barista, leaning to see into the back kitchen. He spotted Katie and grinned. She waved her rubber gloved hand, splashing soap suds across the kitchen. She mimed at him to wait a second and disappeared. Katie had worked in the coffee shop for a few months and had a definite soft spot for Blaine after they danced together at a showcase last year.  
  
“Hey Katie”, she appeared from behind the counter without the apron or gloves and with Blaine’s coffee in her hands, “any sign of Sebastian?”  
  
“Nope, bastard called in sick didn’t he? I really needed today to work on a paper but he obviously decided his social life was more important.” She said, handing Blaine his coffee. “You don’t need to feel responsible for him you know? He’s a big boy and I’m not saying that he can, but he should be able to look after himself.”  
  
Katie was one of those people who turned every conversation into a contemplation of life itself. Blaine didn’t usually mind but he had a headache forming and wanted to go home and stare at his phone. He thanked Katie then made some excuse about having some work to do himself and went to grab some sweetener for his coffee. He ripped the top off the packet and his phone came to life.  
  
“Hello, Blaine Anderson speaking”, he spoke calmly, mentally congratulating himself on his acting skills because he had never felt less calm. Was it possible for his stomach to actually do cartwheels?  
  
“Hello there Blaine, this is David Riley. I’m calling on behalf of the casting director of Pippin and would like know if you would be available to come down to the theatre this afternoon?”  
  
Oh so it wasn’t going to be a simple yes or no, they were going to do it in person.  
  
“Yes of course”, Blaine replied.  
  
“Great. There’s a matinee today so the stage door will be open from 12. We look forward to seeing you, Blaine.” This was all sounding rather positive.  
  
“Thank you very much Sir, I’ll be there at 12.”  
  
“Goodbye.”  
  
“Thank You. Bye.”  
  
His pupils were wide as he pocketed his phone and grabbed his coffee. He made his way across the busy coffee shop catching his elbow on the strap of a man’s satchel. His wide eyes met blue eyes as he apologised and smiled warmly at the stranger. The man smiled back, putting his bag back on his shoulder and giggling slightly. Blaine was rather knocked back by the sound that came out of his mouth, high and clear, as they both continued to apologise to each other. He kept smiling to himself as he left the coffee shop and the attractive stranger behind to prepare for his meeting at the theatre.  
  
-  
  
Blaine turned off Times Square onto 45th and looked up at the Music Box Theatre. He walked past a few people loitering around the entrance, presumably waiting for the matinee ticket lottery towards the stage door.  
  
“Hi I’m Blaine Anderson. I’m here to meet with the casting team”, he explained to stage door security.  
  
“Okay just let me call someone down to take you up to the office”, the man explained. Blaine looked back towards the people waiting for the lottery as the security man murmured into his radio. The amount of times he’d lost at those lottery things. He sometimes found himself wishing that instead of the lottery system they made you do a sort of pop quiz on the show and if you got enough answers right you get a ticket. He’d spent so much time watching film adaptations and bootlegs that he’d pretty much be straight into any show in the city.  
  
“Blaine?” he turned back to the guard, “the stage manager is just coming.”  
  
He followed the burly man up the stairs. He couldn’t remember his name and for a second hoped he hadn’t got the part just to avoid the awkwardness of having to ask his name again, especially someone at least half a foot taller than him.  
  
“Hey Blaine, just give me a second I need to talk to the director about something.” Okay so he was going straight to the top dog.  
  
He waited outside the office as cast members started appearing with bags of take-out food and large coffee cups. He hoped he would get into the office before Kyle appeared. They’d met briefly during his call back but he knew there was always an element of sadness about finishing a show run and Blaine didn’t want to be the one to rub it in his face. The stage manager opened the door and gestured for Blaine to enter the room as he turned his eyes met blue. The coffee shop stranger bustled past to the dressing rooms with the same wide smile as Blaine turned to face the casting panel. What were the chances of Blaine bumping into a cast member in a coffee shop in another part of the city? Small world. Blaine shook the thought out of his head.  
  
“Blaine! How are you doing?” the nervous look on Blaine’s face spoke volumes, “we’re going to cut to the chase here. You’re playing Pippin until the end of the season. We’ll re-evaluate after that but for now we see no reason why the show or your run would end there.”  
  
Blaine allowed the information to sink in for a second. He didn’t know how to react. Weirdly he had the urge to laugh but he didn’t think laughing at the people who just gave him a Broadway starring role was the best idea. He managed to get through a stammered “Thank you” and many handshakes and congratulations. The room was loud and full of activity as he was introduced to people with names he would never remember and hugged by his new colleagues. A brief confirmation of his rehearsal schedule later and he was free to leave. He accepted the invitation to attend the evening performance and headed out to call his parents and Cooper.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**  
  
Blaine wasn’t sure what to do about Sebastian. As much as he hated to admit it, he was pretty much the best friend he had and it felt like he should be the next person to know after his parents. Blaine wasn’t sure how to approach telling a hungover person with fluctuating ambitions that he just landed his dream role when they arrived together in this city at the same time and on the same level. That had always been a problem with their relationship, never mind how much they denied it they were always in competition and Blaine was nearly always winning.  
  
“Hey Seb, how are you feeling?” Blaine whispered as he entered Sebastian’s bedroom.  
  
“Errr...” the blankets shifted. “...Negative. Yeah I’m going to go with negative.”  
  
A messy mop of hair appeared from the top of the blankets followed by a rather grey looking Sebastian.  
  
“What would you say to a free Broadway show tonight? Front row?” Blaine asked, perching on the end of the bed.  
  
“It’s not Hedwig is it? I can’t deal with that level of glitter right now.” He raised his head a little more.  
  
“Nope. Pippin. Acceptable level of glitter.” Blaine produced the tickets from his pocket.  
  
“Wow those are hard to get now they’ve announced they’re changing the lead! Yeah I’m in. I could do with a nice inspiring story to get my ass in gear” Sebastian said, propping himself up against the headboard. “But seriously we have to get food first; tequila always makes me crave bacon.”  
  
“Okay then, bacon it is. I’ll meet you at that diner on 8th at 6. Wear proper shoes!” Blaine got up to leave.  
  
“Blaine?”  
  
He turned back in the doorway.  
  
“I’m sorry. Thanks for bringing me home last night” Sebastian said, not quite looking him in the eye.  
  
“Don’t worry about it Seb, I’ll see you at 6.”  
  
-  
  
Sebastian strolled into the diner at 6:15 wearing sunglasses but mostly cured. After chanting bacon for a couple of minutes causing Blaine to lose total meaning of the word while ordering, he settled down to nursing a cup of black coffee.  
  
“So how on earth did you come by free front row tickets?” He asked.  
  
“They want me to experience the show close up before I start rehearsals”, Blaine replied offhandedly, sipping his coffee.  
  
“What? Rehearsals... What?” Blaine smiled as the cogs turned into Sebastian’s head. “Wait... Are you going to be in Pippin?” he asked, a little too loudly for the small diner.  
  
Blaine leant across the table, “I’m not just going to be in Pippin. I’m going to be Pippin.”  
  
“SHIT!” Sebastian shouted, earning a disapproving glance from a woman in the next booth while her kid made his way through a sundae bigger than his head. “Blaine, that’s beyond amazing! I had no idea you even got an audition but, man, you’re going to be on Broadway!”  
  
“I know it’s crazy! I didn’t want to get my hopes up with just finishing school and everything but my voice coach helped me set up an audition and I just put everything I had into it.” Blaine stopped talking. He knew Sebastian was happy for him but he didn’t want to lay it on too thick.  
  
The waitress appeared with their food and they laughed about some of the more risqué scenes he’d have to bring to life as Sebastian ate away the last of his hangover.  
  
Blaine and Sebastian sat front and centre. He smiled at one of the violinists he’d met earlier as he looked down into the orchestra pit and she smiled back. He couldn’t for the life of him remember her name. He grabbed a playbill and managed to truly terrify himself reading Kyle Dean Massey’s bio. What was his bio going to read? A couple of off Broadway roles and that he would like to thank his parents and his pet fish? Shit, he’d forgotten to feed that damn fish again.  
  
Another face caught his eye. Coffee shop guy, the same guy who’d walked past him earlier before he walked into that office and his life changed forever. Kurt Hummel – Swing. Wait, wasn’t Rachel’s roommate called Kurt? That must be him. How had Rachel failed to mention that not only was he talented, but also gorgeous? Blaine pondered this as Sebastian told the woman seated next to him about Blaine taking over the part. Blaine rolled his eyes at Sebastian’s timing but signed her playbill before anyone else in the theatre realised. He couldn’t help but wonder just how much of the cast was changing and whether Kurt would be working with him.  
  
-  
  
The house lights went up as the orchestra finished playing the exit music. Blaine was glued to the chair, wide eyed and terrified. He stood up robotically as Sebastian and the man on his left stood to leave. He had a lot of work to do in the next few weeks if he was going to pull off anything even close to that. Sebastian saw him trailing behind and grabbed him round the shoulders.  
  
“You can do all that and more. They hired you for a reason. Now stop stressing out and let’s go and get ice cream!” Blaine giggled at their little post theatre tradition and felt a bit calmer.  
  
They approached the door as Blaine felt another hand on his shoulder. He presumed the woman was the Front of House manager.  
  
“Hi, you’re Blaine right?” he nodded, pulling Sebastian to the side with him. She continued, “I was in on your call back day, you’re going kill this role!”  
  
“Thank you! I need to hear that right now to be honest. Seeing the whole completed show was rather overwhelming”, he laughed.  
  
“A bit of fear is a good thing”, she smiled. “Anyway some of the cast are going for a drink tonight. We’re dark tomorrow. I can let you backstage if you want to go with them. I get the impression they’re all desperate to meet you properly.”  
  
Blaine turned to Sebastian who shrugged.  
  
“The idea of even one drink is too much for my poor head at the moment but go ahead. I have work tomorrow and Katie will murder me if I make her cover for me again.” The smile didn’t quite reach his eyes but even Blaine knew that another night out would be beyond Sebastian.  
  
“How about we go backstage, find out where they’re going and then meet them after ice cream?” Blaine asked.  
  
“No seriously, it’s fine. I’d be terrible company; I just need to be in bed.” Sebastian was already heading for the door, yawning for dramatic effect. “Thanks for the ticket superstar.”  
  
Blaine watched him leave the theatre behind the stragglers before turning to follow the woman. She must hate wearing that waistcoat every night, he thought to himself. He passed the dressing rooms as he wound his way around the maze of backstage, full of casually dressed people with faces full of make-up or bare faced people in leotards.  
  
“Blaine Anderson!”  
  
That high, clear voice rang through the corridor. Blue eyed coffee shop guy, Kurt Hummel – swing, Rachel’s roommate. How could someone he had only muttered an apology to already have three different meanings to him? Kurt walked towards him, already make-up free and dressed in jeans and a warm coat.  
  
“I knew I recognised you at the coffee shop this morning but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Rachel has told me so much about you! It’s crazy that we’ve not crossed paths sooner!” He approached Blaine, eyes shining. Blaine put it down to the post-show high and smiled back hoping his nerves didn’t show.  
  
“Yeah in all of our brief coffee dates recently she has failed to mention that you work on the exact show I was auditioning for” and that you’re gorgeous, he added mentally rolling his eyes and grinning.  
  
“Well she has been busy you know? Being Rachel Berry is a full time job”, Kurt joked. “Although I believe she is gracing us with her presence tonight. I think a few of us are heading out for some drinks soon if you want to come along and meet everyone in their natural habitat.”  
  
His voice really was mesmerising. Blaine didn’t know how it fitted with the wide shoulders and chiselled features but it just did. How could he feel so at ease in front of this stunning and talented man? He had really pulled focus on stage. Blaine always looked out for swings in productions, the actors that didn’t just class as understudies but were able to fit into almost any role in the performance. He had a lot of respect for them, mainly because he was incapable of remembering more than two parts at once.  
  
“Yeah sure, sounds great!”  
  
Kurt grabbed his hand and dragged him back towards the dressing rooms. He released his hand as he started rounding up the other chorus members, not noticing that Blaine was having some sort of internal battle with himself as he remember the feel of the man’s hand in his.  
  
“Hey Blaine, call Rachel would you?” Kurt shouted above the rabble of people putting on coats.  
  
Blaine replayed the question in his head and fumbled for his phone, nodding at Kurt. She answered after the third ring as always.  
  
“Hey Rachel, it’s Blaine...BLAINE!” He shouted over the music he could hear in the background.  
  
“BLAINE! One second... Let me just... Oooh, sorry Sir!” Rachel sounded like she was completing an assault course. “Hi, sorry it’s loud in there!” she explained as the music turned into a dull roar.  
  
“Where are you?” Blaine asked.  
  
“Callbacks! My roommate and his castmates are coming to meet me soon, you should show your face!” She was clearly enjoying her evening.  
  
“Wait, you mean Kurt and my castmates?” he replied, suggestively.  
  
“WHAT? Blaine did you... You got it didn’t you?” she squealed.  
  
“I’ll see you soon Rachel” he said calmly, smiling and hanging up the phone before turning back to the group.  
  
“Well Rachel’s waiting at Callbacks for us. Want to get going?” he asked the group, but mainly Kurt.


	4. Chapter 4

“YES... Shit Kurt! ...Yeah right there!” A series of grunts and moans echoed from the stall in the men’s bathroom as the other uninvolved men kept their heads down and tried to keep smirks to a minimum. Blaine looked at his reflection in the sink mirror and straightened his frown before leaving to face the bar once more.  
  
“Hey Blaine, have you seen Kurt?” Rachel caught him as he headed to the bar. She was slurring less than when he’d last spoken to her and he guessed she was about ready for home.  
  
“No but I’ve heard him”, he said gaining a confused look from a tired Rachel Berry. “He’s in the bathroom and by the sounds of it he will be a while.”  
  
Realisation dawned on Rachel’s face.  
  
“OH MY GOD. If that’s Dave again I am going to kill him. Did you see him?” She didn’t wait for an answer, running off towards the bathrooms. He saw her take a deep breath and burst into the men’s bathroom. He’d witnessed this kind of Rachel before and knew not to go in after her. When she saw red like this she could do with a bubble marked ‘danger’ at about a 6 foot radius. She stalked back out a few seconds later.  
  
“He’s such an idiot. I’m going home.” She stated.  
  
Blaine caught her arm.  
  
“Want me to walk with you?” He asked.  
  
“I’ll be fine. I took three stage combat lessons and I have pepper spray. Let’s have coffee during the week?” She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek (Rachel was probably the only adult Blaine knew who had to do that) before weaving her way through the crowded bar to the door. He looked around to find the rest of his cast mates, spotting them at the far end of the bar by the stage and made his way across the dance floor. One of the orchestra musicians stepped off the front of the stage after a rather impressive and maybe slightly too enthusiastic rendition of Out Tonight from Rent. She met applause from the rest of the group and was handed a glass of clear liquid by the leading player. Blaine really had to learn everyone’s real names.  
  
A couple more drinks later and a giggly Blaine was ignoring the name remembering issue and opting to call these new people by amusing and not entirely offensive nicknames. Who was he to know if he’d just called one of the gymnasts ‘biceps’ out loud or in his head? The man’s biceps were actually the size of a baby and Blaine thought the name was completely justified.  
  
“Hey there, sleepy!” Biceps lifted Blaine’s head off his right bicep and propped him up. “Looks like you’re about ready for home.”  
  
“No, no! I want to SIIIINNNNGGGGG!” He sang, jumping back into consciousness. “Sing with me Mr Bicep!” He shouted using the person behind as a convenient back rest. Strong hands grabbed his shoulders and spun him round.  
  
“I always thought my shoulders were better than my biceps personally but I’ll take it.”  
  
Blaine was face to face with the startling clear blue eyes.  
  
“I.... I was talking to...” Blaine gestured towards the bar but the gymnast had disappeared.  
  
“No need to be embarrassed.” Kurt winked, he actually winked right at Blaine. “I have the perfect song!”  
  
-  
  
Of all the songs Blaine would expect to sing in a broadway themed music bar, this was not one. Kurt moved seamlessly through the chorus of American Boy while Blaine channelled his inner Kanye West. It was hard to keep a straight face with Kurt’s interjections through the verses.  
  
"He said Hey Sister. It's really really nice to meet you.  
  
I just met this 5 foot 7 guy who's just my type.  
  
I like the way he's speaking his confidence is peaking.  
  
Don't like his baggy jeans but I'mma like what's underneath them."  
  
He was sure Kurt draping himself across him was all to do with the performance and the song choice was a complete whim. Blaine did a job of almost keeping his thoughts to himself as they flirted back and forth around the stage when he realised if he gave in, a room full of strangers would be the audience to his inevitable rejection.  
  
-  
  
“Not bad, Anderson!” Kurt passed him back a drink at the crowded bar.  
  
“You know my last name? Exactly how much has Rachel told you about me?” Blaine asked sipping at his drink.  
  
“Enough for me to know that your moves up there were only half the story”, Kurt said, guiding Blaine towards a table. “If Rachel Berry is impressed by you then you must be something special.”  
  
“I think I spent most of freshman year adoring her. That voice just does something to me you know? I’m a Rachel Berry fanboy!” Blaine joked. Kurt laughed, his eyes lighting up.  
  
“Yeah she’s one of a kind, but don’t tell her I said that.” Kurt winked. Okay, Blaine thought, that’s enough with the winking. “Where is the dear girl? I haven’t heard her take over the microphone in at least half an hour.”  
  
“Oh she left after... Err she tried to find you I think.” Blaine looked over Kurt’s shoulder, suddenly fascinated by a small group of people behind Kurt.  
  
“Oh...Yeah that was bound to annoy her. She gets pretty touchy about that sort of thing.” Kurt said to the table. “It was probably a stupid idea anyway, I don’t really want to talk about it.”  
  
Blaine looked back to see Kurt sliding his glass in small rings on the table. Blaine wasn’t one to pry and he knew there was more to the story.  
  
“Hey, if she hadn’t gone you know I’d have had to sing Don’t Go Breaking My Heart or some equally terrible duet with her and the world would have missed out on my killer Kanye West impression.” Blaine exclaimed, smiling at Kurt. Kurt raised his head a little and smirked. “I’m just kidding, I do my Kanye West impression without being asked.” Kurt laughed and released his hold on the glass.  
  
Blaine downed the rest of his drink and went to stand up.  
  
“Well us newbies have rehearsal tomorrow so I have to get going”, he said, pulling on his coat.  
  
“I’m going too I think, got to face Rachel sometime” Kurt sighed. “Want to share a cab? Two shows and all this extra dancing has killed me.” Kurt rubbed the back of his neck and smiled at Blaine.  
  
“Yeah sure, I have a feeling they’re going to put me through my paces tomorrow.” They turned and headed towards the door.  
  
It took nearly 20 minutes to hail a cab. Seriously where was Rachel when you needed her?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here comes Santana!

Seriously how could all these people come from the same place? Was Lima, Ohio secretly some kind of performing arts colony that produced Broadway stars?  
  
“Blaine Anderson”, he held his hand out to Santana.  
  
She smiled and patted him lightly on the cheek, “oh I know exactly who you are.” Head held high, she walked across the room and started stretching.  
  
Santana Lopez had just finished a run starring as Roxie in a national tour of Chicago. She had this air of confidence surrounding her that only someone who spent their teenage years trying to stand out alongside Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel could possibly obtain. Blaine was glad to have her as Leading Player, she was determined and talented but also new to the cast with everything prove. Her stage presence was electric and together they got to grips with a couple of the first act numbers before some chorus members turned up to run with them.  
  
“Hummel, are you aware your shirt doesn’t know if it’s a hoodie or a vest?” Santana joked across the room as a slow moving Kurt pulled off his winter boots.  
  
“Lopez, are you aware I had to remove a full head of hair from the shower this morning? I would feel for you but it’s hard to mourn for hair purchased on the internet.” Kurt sassed. Santana grabbed the boots off Kurt and messed with his hair.  
  
“Someone’s a bit delicate today! Sure you’re going to be okay to dance what with your sore head and sore...”

“Okayyyy! Shall we not?” He glared at Santana. She grinned and Blaine noticed a blush creeping up Kurt’s cheeks. He grabbed a bottle of water and sat next to Blaine.  
  
“How’s it gone this morning? You seem to have survived Santana so that’s something.” Kurt nudged Blaine with his elbow and drank down some water. Blaine watched his adam’s apple bobbing in his throat and swallowed.  
  
“I just can’t believe there’s another one. The odds of you and Rachel coming out of the same school are already astronomical. She’s fantastic though, we seem to be getting somewhere already although I know I’m going to ache later!” He giggled uncharacteristically and squirmed at the sound. Kurt laughed, still blushing a little.  
  
“You’ll get used to it, new kid!” Kurt grabbed his shoulder and used it to push himself off the bench. Blaine got up too and ran through a few of the harder steps while the chorus members warmed up.  
  
-  
  
Blaine had thrown himself into rehearsals and thrown himself into the cast. While Santana seemed to dislike Blaine, and everyone else for that matter, she would always spend rehearsal breaks with him and they’d got dinner a few times just out of ease at the end of a hard day. Sometimes Rachel or Kurt joined them but with their performing schedules basically opposing Blaine and Santana’s rehearsals, they spent a lot of time alone as a pair. A couple of weeks into rehearsals they were waiting at a coffee shop for Rachel to finish her matinee so they could get an early dinner. Blaine’s phone started to ring.  
  
“Hey Sebastian!” Maybe a bit too cheery but he’d forgotten to call him back after the series of missed calls and texts yesterday.  
  
“Hi stranger, been busy?” Sebastian said with a hint of malice.  
  
“Yeah sorry, they’re killing us with rehearsals.” Blaine wasn’t sure why he couldn’t come up with some sarcastic retort, failing to pick up on their normal cutting banter.  
  
“Guess that’s what happens when you hit the big leagues. Well I did 6 hours at the coffee shop today. It was both challenging and fulfilling.” Sebastian deadpanned.  
  
Blaine’s face had dropped and Santana looked across the table at him with a questioning raise of her eyebrow. Blaine played with the small curls escaping from the gel behind his ear with an exasperated expression.  
  
“Got anymore auditions?” Blaine asked.  
  
“No. If only I had someone to set some up for me with all their Broadway contacts.”  
  
Blaine took a deep breath.  
  
“Seriously, Sebastian? You really want to play that game again?”  
  
Santana could see Blaine losing it as she swirled her tea with her straw. Whoever was on the other end of the phone launched into a monologue, Blaine trying to cut in but just getting more and more frustrated. She saw Rachel walk into the cafe followed by Kurt. They waved and went to the counter to order. Santana looked back to Blaine and in one swift movement, swiped the phone out of his hand and hung up.  
  
“What was that for?” Blaine raised his voice slightly.  
  
“You looked like a puppy that was being shouted at for peeing on the carpet”, she smiled slightly and Blaine’s face relaxed a little.  
  
“Old friend, not dealing with my big news particularly well”, Blaine said, punctuating the statement with half hearted jazz hands.  
  
“Ignore him and instead watch this teenage kid try to keep a straight face while serving Kurt with a face full of stage make up.” Santana laughed and Blaine turned to see Kurt with obvious remnants of eyeliner and glitter down the side of his face.  
  
“Hey we’re practically on Broadway, I’m sure he sees this shit all the time.” Blaine laughed, smiling at Rachel as she walked across the cafe. She waved a greeting and sat down, warming her hands around the tea. Rachel Berry didn’t speak on two show days.  
  
“What’s going on with you and Kurt anyway?” Santana asked, casually. Blaine’s eyes flitted across to Rachel who was vigorously texting away.  
  
“I don’t know what you mean, we just met.” It came out a little higher than Blaine would like but was mostly convincing.  
  
Santana looked sceptical and side eyed Blaine as Kurt fell into a seat next to him.  
  
“I never get sick! How has this happened?” Kurt rested his forehead in his palm as Rachel glared at him and shifted slightly further away. “One of the Players is off too and I’m sure I’m going to fall off that pole tonight.”  
  
“Miss a couple of shows, get yourself sorted out” Santana suggested.  
  
“They’re literally running out of understudies. This flu is getting everyone.” Kurt sniffed. Blaine rubbed Kurt’s shoulder ignoring the look he received from Santana.  
  
Santana reached across the table to check Kurt’s temperature by laying her palm on his forehead.  
  
“You’re not too warm, you might have a few more hours in you but tomorrow you’re going to feel like shit.” She deduced.  
  
“As opposed to right now where I feel as fresh as a spring daisy.” At least his humour wasn’t compromised.  
  
“Get back to the theatre and have a nap in one of the dressing rooms. I’ll get you some meds and drop them in on my way home.” Santana ordered.  
  
Kurt smiled weakly, curling up around his mug of tea. They wrapped up against the harsh weather and Santana linked up with Kurt, pulling him across the street back to the theatre. Rachel waved and set off in the other direction as Blaine walked alongside them. They took him right round to the stage door and wished him luck for the evening performance before setting off to the nearest pharmacy. She grabbed some pills and syrup, paid and handed the bag to Blaine.  
  
“Drop these off will you? I have to meet Brittany. Oh and get him some soup, nothing with too much cream. Bad for the voice.” Blaine started to argue but she was gone before he had chance.  
  
-  
  
Armed with an impressive cold busting kit, he popped his head into the dressing room closest to the stage door. As expected Kurt hadn’t made it any further than that and had fashioned a bed out of 3 chairs pushed together. One of the other chorus members was sitting on the opposite side of the room with his feet on the dressing table running over the part he was playing that night.  
  
“Hey give these to him when he wakes up? No point him taking them now; they’ll wear off before the show.” He asked the man.  
  
The performer nodded with a slight smile but quickly went back to the script. The couple of hours between matinees and evenings were always quiet backstage.  
  
On his way out Blaine bumped into David, the director.  
  
“Oh hi there Blaine. How are rehearsals going?”  
  
“Good so far, I just can’t wait to get on that stage!” Blaine replied with a hushed enthusiasm, not wanting to wake Kurt on the other side of the door.  
  
“Fantastic, are you watching tonight? It’s been a while since you last saw it and it’s good to watch during the rehearsal process.” David pushed.  
  
“Sure I’d love to.” Blaine presumed no other answer would be accepted and also he was still a Broadway fan and a Broadway fan never turns down the opportunity to see a show.  
  
“Great, I’ll tell the door staff. Don’t worry Blaine, you’ll be here every night before long.”  
  
He took a deep breath and smiled. Yes he would.


	6. Chapter 6

After checking in on Kurt who was slowly fixing his stage make-up, Blaine took his seat. He listened to the orchestra tuning up, tapping his foot nervously much to the anger of the man sat in front of him. He wasn’t entirely convinced that Kurt would even make it to the stage from the dressing room. The orchestra sprung to life and Ciara took the stage. Blaine didn’t even realise he’d been holding his breath as Kurt and the other Player appeared on the stage. The professionalism astounded Blaine. He could see the slightly glazed look in the swing’s eyes but the average audience member wouldn’t have noticed a thing.  
  
Act One went without a hitch. The only indication of Kurt’s illness was the way his body slumped as soon as the stage was blacked out and his choice of the lower lines in the group harmonies to save his voice. Blaine settled into his seat, trusting Kurt to make it through the show and stopped worrying. He had underestimated him.  
  
Blaine applauded as the safety curtain came down. He listened to the audience member’s comments as they left to spend the interval in the bar and switched on his phone to check his messages.  
  
“Blaine?” The lighting technician called down from the box.  
  
He turned and nodded.  
  
“They need you backstage.”  
  
The remaining audience members stared as Blaine rushed out of the auditorium and through the lobby, realisation dawning on some of their faces when they remembered the face of the new lead from all the Broadway blogs. One of the stage crew opened the stage door for him.  
  
“You know Kurt Hummel right?” The crew member asked him.  
  
“Yes. Is he okay?” Blaine rushed.  
  
“He fainted as the curtain went down. Could you get him home?” Blaine looked at him in shock. “Don’t worry we have a back up ready to go for Act Two.”  
  
Surprisingly that wasn’t what Blaine was worried about as he walked into the dressing room. Kurt was sat up but incredibly pale. He smiled weakly at Blaine.  
  
“How pathetic is this? A little cold and I can’t get through a show I’ve been doing every day for a year.” Kurt laughed and started coughing.  
  
“Personally I think you gave it a pretty good shot.” Blaine handed him a bottle of water and sat down, pulling out his phone and dialling Rachel’s number. He hoped her interval hadn’t finished yet. She answered on the third ring.  
  
“Blaine I am busy!” She said angrily but quietly.  
  
“Sorry Rach, Kurt’s really sick and I need to get him home. How is best to get out to Bushwick?” Blaine asked.  
  
“I told him not to perform today!” She said a little louder.  
  
“I know but he had to be stubborn didn’t he?” Blaine looked back a Kurt to check he was drinking the water.  
  
“I’ll send a car over to pick you guys up. Stay with him until I get home okay?” He heard the 5 minute curtain warning in the background.  
  
“Of course. Thanks Rachel, I’ll see you in a couple of hours.” She hung up.  
  
Kurt was shivering a bit. Blaine handed him a wipe to get the majority of the make-up off and went to find his coat. He explained to the crew member what was happening and after helping Kurt into his coat, went outside to wait for the car. He told the driver to wait and ran back inside to get Kurt. He seemed a bit warmer as he helped him down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk.  
  
“Thanks Blaine” Kurt sneezed. “Oh god could I be any more attractive right now?”  
  
Blaine laughed, brushing off the comment as Kurt got into the back seat and ran round to the other side. Thankfully Rachel had told the driver the address and Blaine didn’t need to try and get it out of Kurt who was almost asleep already.  
  
He sent a quick text to Santana, remembering she had a date with Brittany and would probably appreciate the warning.  
  
-  
  
The car pulled up outside the apartment block. Blaine took his coat from where it had been covering Kurt and gently woke him up.  
  
“Kurt? Kurt you need to wake up now sweetie.” Did he seriously just call Kurt sweetie? That’s what Blaine’s mother called him when he was sick.  
  
Kurt stirred, dishevelled and disorientated and looked shocked at his surroundings. A small smiled curled on his lips when he saw Blaine and realised he was outside his apartment.  
  
Blaine thanked the driver and guided Kurt into the building. Kurt fumbled with the keys into his apartment. Blaine stood in the entrance to the apartment. It was more an aircraft hangar than an apartment but only if you looked up to the rafters. At eye level it was full of dividing curtains, knick knacks and interesting furniture. It wasn’t exactly what he had expected but watching Kurt drop his keys into a bowl on the coffee table and turning on a couple of lamps he realised he loved it. It was the perfect example of friends building a life and success in a new city.  
  
Kurt was looking at Blaine, his head tilted to the side.  
  
“It’s not much, but it’s home.” It was almost as if he could read Blaine’s thoughts.  
  
“I think it’s beautiful” Blaine said genuinely.  
  
Kurt smiled warmly. Blaine lost himself in the gaze for a second before realising that the man shouldn’t be standing.  
  
“Hey why don’t you lie down? You can’t have anymore medicine yet but I’ll wake you up when you can.” Blaine put his bag down on the sofa.  
  
“That is a very good suggestion.” Agreed Kurt ,who was already beginning to look a little unsteady. “Want my laptop so you can watch a movie or something?”  
  
“No it’s fine thanks, I’m just going to get to grips with some more of this script.” He said, patting his satchel containing the script.  
  
“Well help yourself to anything in the kitchen or whatever.” Kurt rubbed his face and yawned.  
  
“Kurt, go to bed. I’ll be fine and Rachel will be back soon.”  
  
Kurt nodded and disappeared behind one of the curtains. Blaine set an alarm on his phone for when Kurt could next have his medicine and settled on the sofa to work on the script.  
  
-  
  
Blaine woke up to see Rachel’s face.  
  
“Hey sleepy, thanks for bringing Kurt home.”  
  
“Is he okay? Have you checked on him?” Blain sat up looking around.  
  
“He’s fine. He’s sleeping and he doesn’t seem too warm or cold.” Rachel reassured him with a knowing look.  
  
Blaine ran his hands through his hair, putting it back into some sort of order. He checked his phone.  
  
“He can have some more medicine in a minute. I’ll get it sorted if you want to wake him up?” Blaine asked Rachel.  
  
Rachel disappeared behind the curtain and Blaine found the medicine. He boiled some water and added some honey and lemon. He carried it across the apartment and stopped in front of the curtain before knocking awkwardly on the bookcase nearby. How did they deal with whole knock before entering thing in this place?  
  
Rachel laughed. “Come in, silly!”  
  
Blaine passed through the curtain and to his relief saw Kurt sat up. He had a bit more colour but still looked pretty tired. Rachel had curled around him.  
“I really need to shower. You okay dealing with the medicine Blaine?” Rachel asked getting off the bed.  
  
“Rachel, I’m 23 years old. I can cope.” Croaked Kurt followed by only a very small cough.  
  
“Remember that next time you have to decide whether you are well enough to go work!” Rachel used a very convincing baby voice, booping Kurt on the nose.  
  
Kurt scowled as she skipped out with much more energy than someone who had performed 2 full Broadway shows in the past 24 hours should have.  
  
“Okay. Water, medicine and hot lemon. Then more sleep!” Blaine ordered.  
  
“Yes sir!” Kurt joked.  
  
Blaine handed him the water and medicine and he swallowed the medicine with the water, wincing as it hit his sore throat. Kurt placed the water on the nightstand and made grabby hands at the warm drink. Blaine gave him the mug and stood slightly awkwardly as Kurt savoured the warmth.  
  
“Errr... I should get home.” Blaine approached the idea and was met with a sceptical raise of the eyebrow.  
  
“You don’t even know how to get home from here and it’s past midnight.” Kurt pointed out.  
  
“That is... entirely accurate.” Blaine admitted.  
  
“I don’t know where Rachel keeps the spare blankets but you’re free to stay here tonight. Santana sleeps on the sofa but I doubt she’ll be back for hours. Or if she does come back she can sleep with Rachel or Rachel can sleep with me or...”Kurt babbled on.  
  
“I can sleep anywhere, I’m not picky.” Said Blaine rolling back onto his heels.  
  
“We’ll sort in when Rachel gets out of the shower. Want to watch this week’s America’s Next Top Model? I might as well achieve something today.” Kurt grabbed his laptop and turned it on on his lap. Blaine nodded. Kurt patted the bed next to him. “But no taking advantage of the poor sick boy, okay?” He asked playfully.  
  
“Of course not, I am a medical professional.” Joked Blaine, sitting next to Kurt with his back against the headboard.  
  
-  
  
Rachel moved the curtain aside to see the two men fast asleep, Blaine leant awkwardly against the headboard with his head drooped towards Kurt who was facing Blaine with his knees curled up. The laptop balanced precariously between them. She carefully removed the laptop and fetched a blanket from her room to cover Blaine.


	7. Chapter 7

The sounds of the apartment’s sliding door woke Blaine some time before dawn. He heard Santana curse as she tripped over something in the living room and realised where he had fallen asleep and who was next to him. Kurt’s breathing was clearer and more restful than it had been in the car ride from the theatre and he looked peaceful. Blaine started to figure out how to extract himself from the bed without waking Kurt up when the privacy curtain moved. He quickly shut his eyes again just in time for Santana to pop her head through the curtain. She let out a long, low whistle before retreating back in to the living room. Great hadn’t Kurt said Santana slept on the sofa? So unless Blaine was willing to sleep in the bathtub and could get past Santana to do it, he was stuck. And considering Santana knew he was there, even if he did get out unscathed it wouldn’t make much difference now. Making a half hearted decision to deal with it in the morning, helped immensely by how warm and comfortable he was next to Kurt, he sank down properly onto the pillows and fell fast asleep. He didn’t hear Rachel wake up or the whispered conversation she had with Santana.  
  
-  
  
Blaine stirred as the winter sunlight hit his face, his eyes shot open to the glare.  
  
“I know America’s Next Top Model isn’t everyone’s favourite show but was it really boring enough to send you to sleep?” Kurt was still wrapped up in bedding to his chin but had a bit more colour.  
  
Blaine grunted. It wasn’t an answer but it was the best he could achieve having just been woken up by sunlight burning his eyes.  
  
“I couldn’t decide whether I would rather deal with this awkward situation or the one on the other side of the curtain.” Kurt paused so they could hear Santana and Rachel in the kitchen. “This one was warmer so I stayed here.”  
  
At least they were on the same page.  
  
“I must admit I had the same issue a few hours ago when Santana appeared and claimed the sofa.” Blaine said into the blanket.  
  
“Do you think there’s any chance they haven’t seen us?” Kurt asked.  
  
“Well firstly it’s Santana and Rachel so, no. Also I may be kind of small but I don’t just disappear into thin air and I’m pretty sure you don’t have any hidden rooms in this place.” Blaine was beginning to come to terms with the discomfort that comes with sleeping in jeans.  
  
“I guess we will have to face them eventually.” Kurt pointed out.  
  
Blaine put his head fully under the blanket and whined, “but I don’t want to!”  
  
“Wow you’re really not a morning person are you?” Kurt laughed at Blaine as he pulled the blanket down to his nose to give the most convincing set of puppy dog eyes Kurt had ever seen on either a human or a dog. He took a second before continuing. “Well I’m sick and you enjoy mornings just about as much as a vampire so I vote we show our faces by taking all of these blankets to the sofa. Then if they pick on us we can just hide underneath them?”  
  
A Sunday morning spent on the sofa with Kurt seemed like a pretty great idea to Blaine so keeping up the childish act that appeared to be working wonders, he nodded. They gathered up the blankets from Kurt’s bed.  
  
“Let’s make a fort!” Blaine suggested.  
  
“Err no. Too far.” Kurt saw the disappointment wash over Blaine’s face for a couple of seconds. “I’m kidding! Rachel hates mess though.”  
  
Blaine perked up and followed Kurt into the living room. They blanked the two girls as they quickly curled up at either ends of the sofa. They took pride in knowing they had truly confused Santana and Rachel by appearing completely oblivious to the fact they had just woken up together. Kurt switched on TV to some weekend cooking show and they waited for one of the girls to speak up.  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, Blaine could see Santana and Rachel having some kind of silent conversation across the table. Rachel got up and set about making some coffee.  
  
“Blaine would you like some coffee?” She asked politely.  
  
“Yes please Rachel. Kurt? Coffee?” He asked the man at the other end of the couch who was trying to hold it together.  
  
“Sure”, Kurt managed.  
  
Blaine got up off the sofa. Santana followed him with her eyes.  
  
“Here let me do it.” He approached Rachel and took the coffee beans from her. “It’s the least I can do for you letting me stay the night!” He was enjoying this way too much.  
  
The room remained silent apart from the chef on TV as Blaine went about making the coffee. He could feel eyes on him and resisted the urge to flatten his hair.  
  
“Okay what the hell?” Santana cracked.  
  
“Blaine is my new live in carer for the terminal illness I developed yesterday.” Kurt spoke up from the couch.  
  
“Yeah it’s in my contract. Which cast member have you been assigned to for nursing duties Santana?” Blaine handed her a cup of coffee.  
  
“Very funny. If Kurt didn’t look like a drug addict in recovery and sound like he’s smoked 4 packs a day for his long 23 years I’d care more. Just cuddles to make him better Blainers? Boring!” She faked a yawn and left her coffee to go and shower.  
  
Kurt was suddenly very interested in the cooking show. Rachel glanced at Blaine who shrugged.  
  
“We were watching America’s Next Top Model and I fell asleep!” He answered to her accusatory gaze.  
  
Quietly from the sofa they caught. “Guess partially naked models covered in paint just aren’t your thing?”  
  
Rachel almost spat out her coffee as her and Blaine laughed at Kurt’s little interjection. He had burrowed back into his covers and didn’t look like he was planning on moving anytime soon.  
  
“Shit. I have to go. I haven’t fed my fish in like 3 days.” Blaine said with a level of enthusiasm he would normally save for slightly more important matters. He jumped up and spun around before realising he had no idea where he was or how to get home. The idea of going outside in last night’s clothes was not particularly appealing either.  
  
“That is the worst excuse I have ever heard. Lucky for you I’m meeting a friend for lunch in midtown so I’ll escort you back out of scary Bushwick.” She grabbed an apple not waiting for his response and went towards her room. “But please shower, I refuse to ride the subway with you otherwise.”  
  
Blaine couldn’t begin to imagine what his hair looked like right now, maybe she had a point.  
  
“Give Santana and hour or so and the bathroom should be all yours.”  
  
-  
  
After a 45 minute subway ride being completely grilled by Rachel, she had finally stopped asking Blaine to draw a picture of the position him and Kurt slept in the back of her diary. She jumped at his offer of getting coffee when he failed to come up with an excuse for getting off the subway a few stops early. He needed to go and see Sebastian and knew he should be working. As they walked up the steps to street level he decided just to suck it up and bring Rachel along.  
  
“I really wasn’t kidding when I said I have to feed my fish you know.” Blaine pointed out. “I should be arrested for animal cruelty. We should get this coffee to go and I’ll spend the rest of the day apologising to Marlon.”  
  
“You called your fish Marlon?” Rachel said in slight disbelief.  
  
“Yeah. I used to have Nemo but he died a couple of weeks ago when I was too busy dancing around my apartment celebrating Pippin to feed them.”  
  
He could sense Rachel digesting the mental image.  
  
“So you named your fish after Finding Nemo. Are they even clown fish?” Rachel asked.  
  
“Erm... Well no, they’re goldfish.” Blaine needed no confirmation of his lack of creativity in naming his pets.  
  
“That might be the saddest thing I have ever heard.” Rachel pointed out, stepping under Blaine’s arm as he held open the door to the coffee shop.  
  
He walked behind her and waved at Sebastian who responded with a small smile as he finished pouring steamed milk into a large mug. Katie shouted a greeting across the room causing way too many people to stare and a couple of people to recognise Rachel.  
  
“Go and make their day, I’ll get the drinks.” Blaine gestured towards the slightly starstruck girl and boy in a booth who were probably musical theatre majors at NYADA. He watched Rachel approach the pair who were remaining fairly calm under the circumstances.  
  
“Morning Blaine. Nice sweatpants.” Sebastian was still facing the coffee machine and must have noticed when he came through the door.  
  
“Thanks. Not exactly wearing them out of choice but it is Sunday.” Blaine said tugging slightly at the pants Kurt had leant to him at Rachel’s command.  
  
“Coffee?” Sebastian still wasn’t looking at him.  
  
“Yes and a soy latte for my crazy vegan friend please.” Blaine requested, searching around in his satchel for his wallet.  
  
“Oh yes, I saw you come in with Fanny Bryce herself. Collecting Broadway leads now are you?” He asked finally turning to face Blaine.  
  
“You know I have known Rachel for years Sebastian.” Blaine was growing tired of his blatant jealousy.  
  
“Sure and since you met her three years ago you have moved from delivering her coffee all the way to buying her coffee and spending the 5 minutes it takes to drink it being talked at by her. Congratulations.” Sebastian’s voice dripped with sarcasm.  
  
“Stop acting like a child. I’m not a toy you can keep all to yourself.” Luckily his voice remained hushed.  
  
“That’s obvious. Who’s are the sweatpants?”  
  
Blaine knew exactly what Sebastian was accusing him of.  
  
“One of the swings. Gymnast, great body, really hot.” Well he wasn’t lying.  
  
“Working your way through the case before you even start? Classy.” Sebastian winked and slid the coffees towards Blaine maintaining eye contact. Blaine fumbled with his wallet. “On the house, superstar.”  
  
Blaine remembered the last time Sebastian had called him that, when he had walked out of the theatre leaving Blaine to meet his new cast mates. The tone was slightly different this time around. He went to thank Sebastian but he had already gone into the back kitchen. He cast a look of despair at Katie. She simply shrugged and continued cleaning the counter, knowing that Sebastian was to be avoided.  
  
Blaine tapped the back of Rachel’s shoulder with her coffee cup.  
  
“Rach, you nearly ready to go?”  
  
“Blaine! These guys are freshman at NYADA on musical theatre!” She gestured to the boy and girl who stared at Blaine wide eyed. “See it is Blaine Anderson! Make sure you get tickets to see him in Pippin next month, I taught him everything he knows.”  
  
Blaine laughed, feeling slightly awkward as the students asked for a photo. He handed the coffees to Rachel and the others in the small cafe were obviously trying to figure out who they were as the boy extended his arm to take the photo with Blaine in the middle. They said their goodbyes and left the shop.  
  
“You will get used to it, trust me.” Rachel went from Broadway diva to friend in front of his eyes as she took the lid off her coffee and made a complete mess of sipping some of the foam off the top. The facade was even further shattered when she nearly dropped the coffee checking the time on her phone. “Shit, I have to meet Jesse. Err... go and feed Marlon. I want a picture to prove he is alive. Also come over tomorrow night for dinner, you know where we live now so no excuse!” She got on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek and was gone before Blaine even had a chance to respond, as always.


	8. Chapter 8

Blaine peeked his head around the apartment door looking towards the book shelf and waiting for a flash of orange. Marlon was happily swimming in a circle, thank fuck for that! After throwing some of the dried food into the water and changing out of the sweatpants into some jeans he picked up the tank and walked back out of the apartment. He knocked on a door on the third floor and looked down at the small boy who opened it.  
  
“Hey Alfie, is your mum in?” He asked over the fish tank.  
  
The boy looked slightly confused but nodded and ran off towards the kitchen. After juggling the door with his feet Blaine followed quickly, desperate to put the heavy fish tank down. He saw Julie fixing lunch in the kitchen and smiled, carefully putting the fish tank on the counter. She was enjoying her day off with Alfie. Julie worked a lot as she hadn’t quite worked out how to make a living playing the violin yet, although Blaine was sure she would get her big break soon.  
  
“Help I’m subjecting this tiny fish Marlon to extreme animal cruelty.” He pointed both index fingers to Marlon who after his little journey had settled back into picking at the flakes of food on the water’s surface.  
  
“He looks happy enough.” Julie was stirring homemade soup and keeping one eye on Alfie.  
  
“No no that’s just an illusion. He has no memory of the extreme hunger and cruelty I have put him through in the last week. I doubt he even remembers his brother enough to mourn him.” Blaine raised his eyebrows in an attempt to look innocent.  
  
“You mean the brother you named as his son and then got mixed up? Blaine, that’s probably Nemo.” She relaxed as she finished adding ingredients to the pan and leant against the kitchen cabinet facing Blaine.  
  
“I know! I’m a terrible father and he needs a new one. Maybe a six year old aspiring zoologist?” He nodded towards Alfie who was watching animal planet.  
  
“The last thing he asked for was a bearded dragon so this is definitely a better idea. Ask him if you like.” She got three bowls out of the cupboard, assuming correctly that Blaine wanted some soup.  
  
“Hey Alf?” The six year old dragged his eyes from the safari themed program. “Remember when we cleaned Marlon and Nemo’s fish tank?”  
  
The kid turned so he was sitting on the sofa backwards and with a thoughtful look, nodded.  
  
“If I leave Marlon here to live with you would you remember to do that every week? You can come upstairs to get me to help if you like.” Alfie’s face lit up as he nodded enthusiastically.  
  
“Yeah I can remember and you have to give him the food everyday too.” Alfie reeled off his knowledge of fish care.  
  
Blaine did a little jump and pointed at Alfie. “Your child is a fish care genius and the father Marlon deserves!” Julie was rolling her eyes.  
  
“I am a grandmother at 24. This is a dream come true.” She put the 3 bowls of soup on the table and Alfie shut off the TV to come and sit with them. “You still okay to watch him next weekend?” She asked looking towards the kid with soup dripping down his chin.  
  
“Sure. Hey Alf, I bet I can guess what you want to do next weekend.”  
  
Alfie stopped eating for a second.  
  
“I bet you can’t.” He challenged, not paying attention to the soup on his spoon that was seconds off ending up on the tablecloth.  
  
“I bet you want to go to the Zoo to see the penguins.” Blaine rescued the soup spoon from the boy’s hand as his face lit up at the suggestion.  
  
“Mum? Can we? Pleaseeeeee?” He begged Julie.  
  
“Of course. It’s been nearly a month since you last went. They are going to think you’ve forgotten about them.” She cleaned soup off the excited kid’s face and Blaine handed him the spoon back.  
  
He continued eating and Julie looked thankfully at Blaine. Truthfully Blaine loved spending time with Alfie and was glad he’d ended up helping Julie move into the apartment block a couple of years ago after seeing her struggling with her boxes on the sidewalk. This was something his new crazy schedule wasn’t going to get in the way of.  
  
-  
  
Blaine looked from the perfectly laundered and folded sweatpants to the pile of unwashed laundry. He had possibly been a little too careful about not allowing any of his brighter clothes to ruin Kurt’s sweatpants in the wash by washing them completely on their own but he was proud of the result. He only ever wore rehearsal clothes or jeans these days any way. He referred to Sundays as ‘life admin’ days and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning his apartment to the Rent soundtrack with minimal disruption caused by extreme dance moves in the small space. After finishing his weekly phone call to his parents he set out to buy himself some dinner enjoying walking the fairly peaceful Sunday evening streets.  
  
As he approached the door of his apartment he could hear music. He hadn’t left music on that loudly had he? Great, he was being robbed by a thief who took liberties with his music collection. What if they stole his playbill collection or his guitar?  
  
“Santana! What the hell?!” He opened the door to see Santana bopping along to MJ and making some form of hot drink.  
  
“Evening Blaine. You need to rethink your security.” She searched through his cupboards for something.  
  
“I was under the impression that locks were enough to keep people out but more fool me.” He had already admitted defeat and sat on the couch, tucking into the takeout food.  
  
“Kurt’s pathetic illness act was driving me crazy and if Berry even mentioned Jesse St James after her little lunch date I would simply have had no choice but to empty her cup of whatever weird vegan green gloop she came back with over her head.” She flicked through an interior design magazine from the coffee table.  
  
“It’s not an act, he’s really sick.” Blaine ignored whatever she had said about Rachel.  
  
“Yeah sure he was but did he really have to watch 6 hours of Say Yes To The Dress this afternoon on my bed?” Blaine decided not to point out that her ‘bed’ being the only couch in the apartment made it pretty much a free for all.  
  
“He really does have awful taste in television. Do you think he’ll be ready to start the shows again on Tuesday?” He asked.  
  
“I hope so. I can’t cope with him moping around for much longer.” Santana reached over to steal a dumpling from the container in Blaine’s hand.  
  
“Hey! Get your own!”  
  
-  
  
Blaine wasn’t remotely surprised when he woke the next day to find Santana still in his apartment and they walked to rehearsal together not once addressing the fact that Blaine appeared to have gained a lodger. Jokes were thrown around about Blaine going on as a player if Kurt didn’t recover in time. He kept messing up the aerial hoop sequence until the choreographer ensured him that they wouldn’t make him understudy. After that he stopped falling enough for them to dare to raise the hoop more than a metre off the ground.  
  
-  
  
Late afternoon Blaine emerged from his bedroom after changing his bow tie three times.  
  
“Where are you going all dressed up?” Santana asked as she looked up from the script she was dissecting.  
  
“I am going to YOUR apartment.”  
  
“Cool. Could you get my red dress? Rachel will know the one.” She continued highlighting the script.  
  
“You could go home and get it yourself and then maybe stay there.” Blaine suggested  
  
“Not until Kurt has the all clear!”  
  
“You realise I’m probably going to get sick soon as well?” He pointed out.  
  
“Yes and we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” She murmured.  
  
Blaine was beginning to accept that Santana Lopez was his new roommate.  
  
-  
  
Kurt was baking something and singing quietly while Rachel spoke on the phone when Blaine got to the apartment. He seemed recovered and Blaine could spot monopoly out on the table. As he greeted them both, he had a mental word with himself to keep his competitive side in check. Rachel finished her conversation with ‘I love you’ so Blaine assumed she was speaking one of her dads.  
  
“Sorry, hi Blaine. Good weekend?” She asked, plugging a charger cable into her phone.  
  
“Yeah great, I did some washing, some cleaning and I seem to have gained a new roommate.” Blaine listed his accomplishments.  
  
“Ah so that’s where Santana went.” Kurt piped up from the kitchen.  
  
“Oh yeah Kurt I washed your sweatpants. Thanks for lending them to me.” He took them out of his back and offered them to Kurt who held up his hands covered in cookie dough.  
  
“Could you put them on my bed? You remember where that is right?” Kurt raised his eyebrows and laughed with colour in his cheeks that hadn’t been there the day before.  
  
“You seem better.” Blaine pointed out, dipping behind the curtain to put the pants in Kurt’s room.  
  
“I feel so much better and I know exactly how to dress a bride with wide shoulders. Yesterday was a very productive day.” He put the tray of cookies in the oven.  
  
“Unfortunately, so do I.” Rachel added.  
  
“You complain now but wait until you need my opinion on an outfit for your next big event.”  
  
“You have a point Mr. Hummel. What on earth would I do without you?” She put her hand on his shoulder. Kurt held her hand and looked at her very seriously.  
  
“Need I remind you of the unicorn sweater stage?”  
  
“Oh please elaborate!” Blaine interjected.  
  
Rachel glared at Kurt who took a breath to speak and was quickly silenced by Rachel’s hand.  
  
“Knee length, form fitting sweaters.” She directed at him.  
  
“Okay you win.” Kurt admitted defeat as Rachel did a small celebratory dance. “Now where is that wine?” Kurt asked no one in particular.  
  
It turned out that while Blaine was usually incredibly competitive and determined, the second he got any alcohol in his system he mainly just thought it was funny that he was losing and kept having to give Kurt more and more money as he landed on all the tiny plastic houses he owned. Rachel was getting closer to falling asleep and kept asking Blaine to move her counters for her to avoid having to move a muscle. After another round of turns she was completely asleep. Blaine, feeling pretty tired himself, shuffled further down the sofa and tucked his feet behind Kurt.  
  
“You win.” Blaine yawned.  
  
“You two are pathetic. It’s not even 10pm.” Kurt pushed his body forward slightly to allow space for Blaine.  
  
“Arial hoop rehearsal was hard!” Blaine mumbled, realising that complaining to Kurt about difficult sequences in the show was completely pointless.  
  
“Yeah and what’s her excuse?” He looked over to see Rachel curled up in the armchair.  
  
“It’s the wine. We’re smaller than you. It just goes straight to your shoulders.” Blaine couldn’t figure out whether he’d said all that out loud but the solid mass of Kurt’s torso resting against his legs was distracting him.  
  
“We really need to start spending time together when you’re not unconscious.” Kurt shook Blaine’s knee lightly to see if he would react.  
  
With his eyes already closed Blaine said, “Is that you asking me out Hummel?”  
  
“What’s the point when you seem to have moved in?” He replied after a few seconds with no movement from Blaine.  
  
“No no I’m going back tonight.” Blaine suddenly drew himself up into a sitting position with his eyes open, looking slight dazed. “I have rehearsal tomorrow.”  
  
Kurt gave him a second to properly wake up.  
  
“Okay I’ll walk you to the subway.”  
  
“You really don’t have to.” Blaine was almost sure he knew the way.  
  
“I haven’t been out of the house in two days, this will do me good.”  
  
They put on coats and Kurt found Santana’s red dress but also handed Blaine another dress that he insisted would be a better option. They walked to the train with hands shoved deeply in their pockets against the cold and spent a few minutes killing time jumping on the spot to keep warm. When the train time approached, Blaine went to go through the barriers.  
  
“Want to meet Rachel and I before the shows tomorrow for dinner?” Kurt called to Blaine.  
  
“Sure! Normal time?” Blaine turned back. Kurt nodded. “I’ll try and bring Santana if she believes me that you’re not contagious.”  
  
Kurt laughed and waved as Blaine passed through the barrier and headed towards the platform. Blaine’s phone pinged in his pocket. He dug it out on the platform. A text from Kurt flashed up on the screen.  
  


_Don’t bring Santana to dinner because I don’t plan to bring Rachel._


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Blaine sings in this chapter is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DD-3NP1wwo and the dance sequence mentioned at the end of the chapter is added onto the end of this in the full version. It's pretty much a sequence of Pippin going through a very 'experimental' phase with a few people in the circus troupe.

At rehearsal the following day Blaine was having his stomach and shoulders pushed around by his tiny vocal coach who constantly reprimanded him on his posture. He’d barely gotten through a couple of bars at once through the whole rehearsal without her stopping him in his tracks and was feeling increasingly frustrated. He was counting down the minutes until the end of rehearsal when he could meet Kurt. Not that he wasn’t more nervous than he had ever been to spend time with Kurt in what he assumed may be a date setting but anything had to be better than singing the same three notes over and over into an empty auditorium while being shouted at.  
  
“Okay it’s really sounding better.” The coach said genuinely as she walked back towards the piano. “Right, from the top and then we’re done for the day.”  
  
Blaine didn’t trust her not to cut him off half way through as she played the intro to With You. He began to sing, breathing right down into the bottom of his lungs to hit the notes in the tricky range. The song built up to the higher section and he trusted that she wasn’t going to stop him. Closing his eyes, he allowed his voice to fill the auditorium, feeling the full sound ring around the empty seats that would soon be full of people. He imagined the flute playing between his phrases and the long bowed notes on the violins in the pit below him as he climbed up to the height of the song, hitting each note firmly. Blaine allowed the sound of the clear high note to stretch out to the furthest corners of the theatre before pulling his voice back down to form the final lines of the song. He slowly opened his eyes as his coach played the final notes to see a group of people at the back of the stalls.  
  
“You appear to have some visitors, Blaine.” She packed the sheet music away as the group of people approached the stage clapping.  
  
Blaine recognised a few cast members and most of the stage crew. Rehearsal must have run late if they were already arriving for the evening performance. Suddenly self conscious without sound filling the space he looked at the group sheepishly.  
  
“Yeah, you’ll do.” The player Kurt had been standing in for piped up from the group, who laughed and groaned in unison.  
  
“Thank you... I think?” Blaine could feel his heart beat in his ears at the realisation that a group of seasoned Broadway professionals had just sat in on his first rehearsal of one of the most important solos in the show.  
  
“I’m glad we had a tip off that you would be rehearsing today. Worth coming in early wouldn’t you say?” One of the dancers directed at a few others surrounding her. Blaine spotted Kurt at the back of the group, his expression unreadable. Kurt nodded slowly.  
  
Pulling himself back from Kurt’s gaze, Blaine spoke again. “I have lots to work on but I’m really excited to work with you guys next month.” It had come out way more peppy than intended but he hoped they’d brush past it.  
  
They started to scatter backstage. Blaine lost sight of Kurt and wandered off to one of the dressing rooms to change. He was beginning to doubt if Kurt had remembered their dinner plans or whether there was even time now before the show, Blaine was completely disorientated after the rehearsal. Kurt’s expression had looked almost blank back in the theatre. Maybe he’d had second thoughts after his text last night or maybe he was angry at Blaine for not replying. Blaine had stared at his phone the whole subway ride home the night before with a mixture of excitement and nerves but when he exited the station near his apartment he was still stuck with how to reply.  
  
Pulling on his coat, he heard a small knock on the slightly open door. He turned as Kurt appeared from the corridor. Blaine opened his mouth to apologise for not replying and overrunning on rehearsal but the look on Kurt’s face silenced him.  
  
“You’re breathtaking, do you know that?” Kurt’s eyes were wide and a heavy silence filled the space between the two men. A million thoughts on how to respond flew through Blaine’s mind ranging from embarrassment to plain bad humour.  
  
“I’m living my dream.” He said, simply. He couldn’t hold back a smile as his eyes filled up. Kurt bridged the gap between them in two steps and wrapped his arms around him.  
  
“Keep singing like that and no one will be able to take it away from you.” Kurt said, quietly. Blaine could feel his breathe across the top of his ear.  
  
After a few seconds they came to their senses and released each other. Kurt’s hand remained on Blaine’s shoulder as he pulled back from the hug. Blaine could feel his thumb on his collar bone.  
  
“Hungry?” Kurt asked.  
  
“Starving.” Blaine couldn’t stop smiling. “Do you have time though?”  
  
“Did you not notice everyone’s back? I don’t have to go on tonight.”  
  
For the first time neither was sick, drunk or short on time.  
  
“Lead the way!”  
  
-  
  
Blaine was completely drunk on Kurt. He could listen to the man talk for hours. While he would probably find it interesting listening to him talk about what he had for lunch, he was being treated to a passionate insight into Kurt’s hopes and dreams. Of course they were going to have dessert because not having dessert would mean the beginning of the end of the evening. He found Kurt nudging his foot under the table adorable, even though his brain was trying to tell him how cliché the whole thing was.  
  
“I’m sorry. I’m going on and on!”  
  
Blaine knew the walls would go back up at some point. From what he could tell, this really was quite out of the ordinary. The normally guarded and sarcastic Kurt had spent the whole evening so far without covering up any insecurities with humour. It was refreshing to Blaine who was generally an open person, perhaps sometimes too open. He knew his accepting nature often allowed people to take advantage. With Kurt dynamically chatting away across the table, he had a feeling that he wasn’t like Sebastian or the other guys Blaine had dated. The only experience Blaine had of actually dating was meeting in a bar, taking the guy home and then before he knew it he was meeting up with the same guy, frequently. Unintentionally he would find himself dating someone without really having to try. Kurt lit this fire in Blaine that made him want to impress him and he was becoming more and more certain that the man would be worth the challenge.  
  
While Kurt excused himself to use the bathroom, Blaine paid for the meal and got their coats. Kurt had a slight look of confusion on his face as Blaine helped him into his coat.  
  
“You paid?” He asked Blaine, turning to face him.  
  
“You can get the next one.” He looped Kurt’s scarf around his neck, a lopsided smile on his face.  
  
Winter was really starting to hit. They walked a few blocks together. Blaine realised he was approaching the turn off for his apartment.  
  
“Err... Where can you get the Subway from?” He asked Kurt. He still had no idea about the trains out to Brooklyn.  
  
“I should head for 14th I think.” Said Kurt, mentally calculating his journey home.  
  
“Okay I’m here but I’ll walk you to the subway first.” Blaine offered.  
  
“Don’t be stupid, it’s freezing!”  
  
“I’m not cold.” Blaine’s teeth chattered as he said it. He sighed in defeat.  
  
“Of course you’re not.” Kurt adjusted Blaine’s scarf to loop another time round his neck. Blaine looked into the blue eyes for what seemed like forever. They looked closer to grey under the street light. Blaine realised how long he’d been staring when Kurt began to squint, covering the pools of grey. He looked away quickly, reprimanding himself silently for staring. He felt Kurt’s gloved hand turn his face gently back. Boldly Kurt placed a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth. It took every inch of Blaine’s restraint not to chase his mouth as he pulled away. Kurt smiled slightly at the expression on Blaine’s face as he stepped back.  
  
“I’ll see you at rehearsal tomorrow.” Kurt said, impossibly quietly. Blaine watched as the man turned and walked away. It took Blaine a few seconds to realise he was still stood on the sidewalk, shivering. When he was certain Kurt wasn’t going to come running back and demand to be taken up to his apartment, he let himself into the building.  
  
-  
  
“Very cute.” Santana said over the magazine she was reading at Blaine’s breakfast bar the following morning when he emerged.  
  
“Don’t pick on me. I have curly hair, deal with it.” He ran his hands through what he knew would resemble a dark bird’s nest.  
  
“No not that, yours and Hummel’s little display last night.”  
  
“You’re a creep, you know that right?” He started looking through the cupboards for breakfast inspiration finding it hard to be remotely angry when he was still on a high from the previous evening’s events. “Glad we could indulge your fantasy.”  
  
“Sweetie if you think that’s my fantasy you have confirmed my suspicion that you are 90 percent rainbows.” She had stopped reading whatever gossip article she had been enamoured with. Deciding to stick with her opinion of him, Blaine stuck out his tongue at her before pouring some cereal.  
  
“Today’s rehearsal has potential though.” She added.  
  
“Oh yeah?” Blaine added, not really listening while he got milk out of the fridge.  
  
“Sure. We’re doing the dance sequence at the end of With You.” She smirked.  
  
Blaine had flashbacks to the red lit stage and the rotating cage. His milk ended up all over the counter instead of in the bowl.


	10. Chapter 10

Blaine had come to the conclusion that he needed to move further away from the NYADA campus. The only people who recognised him were those who religiously followed Broadway blogs and unfortunately the concentration of those types of people was significantly higher in the area around the performing arts school than anywhere else in the city. On his own he was vaguely recognisable but with Santana they turned themselves into a walking photo opportunity.  
  
“We need to start travelling separately.” Santana stated on the subway, making no effort whatsoever to lower her voice out of the hearing range of the two girls opposite who clearly recognised them.  
  
“Or maybe you just need to find your own apartment and stop following me around.” Blaine was sort of joking.  
  
“Your words wound me. Plus, with my financial history no one in their right mind would rent an apartment to me.”  
  
“I don’t even want to know.” Blaine returned to scrolling through his phone.  
  
“Excited about grinding up against Kurt for a few hours today?” Santana continued. Her talkative mood had everything to do with her proclivity for making Blaine feel wildly uncomfortable.  
  
“Not nearly as excited as you are. And please, talk louder.” Blaine glanced across to the girls who were trying to remain calm.  
  
“Oh please, like the whole cast don’t already suspect something. It’ll get out soon enough. You lost your privacy when you signed that contract.”  
  
“Firstly, nothing is going on between Kurt and I.” That gained him a side eye from Santana. He continued anyway. “Secondly, much to your surprise I’m not in all this for the fame. I’m actually here because I love performing.”  
  
“I hope you are still saying that when Kurt’s done with you and it ends up all over the internet.”  
  
“What do you mean ‘when he’s done with me’?” Blaine asked, facing forward and trying to keep his expression neutral.  
  
“I might be wrong, but boy’s got a past. I’m not convinced he’s changed.”  
  
The train slowed down as it approached the station.  
  
“Are you always so cryptic?”  
  
“Pretty much.” She said as she approached the doors of the carriage.  
  
Blaine couldn’t remember an unpleasant encounter with Kurt and he wasn’t going to let others paint a bad image of him in his mind. Sure overhearing him and that guy in the bathroom at Callbacks had been quite a shock but he couldn’t judge, it wasn’t like Blaine had never done anything like that and Kurt was a single guy. As far as Blaine was concerned, Kurt had a right to act however he wanted. He wasn’t going to get carried away like a little teenager and ghost his fingers over the corner of his mouth where Kurt’s kiss had lingered. Okay maybe he had once or twice, he wasn’t made of stone.  
  
He obliged Santana’s expectations by remaining quiet on the short walk to rehearsal. She seemed pretty pleased with herself, oblivious to Blaine’s actual thoughts on the matter. He missed her look of discomfort as Kurt’s face lit up when Blaine smiled across the room from the door of the studio.  
  
“What’s going on with you and Kurt anyway?” It was that really big guy from Callbacks.  
  
“Nothing. We just know each other through mutual friends.” Blaine was putting a lot of concentration into untying his shoelaces.  
  
“Oh you’re another NYADA grad aren’t you? They just churn out Broadway stars these days don’t they?” The sarcasm was apparent.  
  
“Errr... Yeah? I dunno. I guess the musical theatre program is good.” Blaine sort of stammered his way through a reply but the man was already losing interest and moving to warm up. As a person accustomed to pretty much being loved by everyone, Blaine looked rather put out by the rude dancer. Kurt caught his eye across the room and squinted in question. Blaine shrugged and Kurt started across the room towards him.  
  
“Okay everyone!” The dance captain stopped Kurt in his tracks. “Has anyone done the Pippin part to this before?” He addressed this at the few existing cast members at the rehearsal. Kurt and some of the others discussed it between themselves, sending one of the swings forward.  
  
“Yeah actually that makes sense. Then Kurt and Dave can play the parts they’re taking over.” The dance captain started speaking to the three men. Blaine looked over at Santana to see she was just as confused as he was. Kurt hadn’t mentioned anything about taking over the Player role permanently.  
  
“We’ll run through it and then work with Blaine and Santana.” He turned towards the pair. “Basically it will all revolve around this central point where Blaine will remain throughout. Santana, you do have some more stand alone choreography that we worked on last week but we’ll mostly be working on the cage stuff today.”  
  
“Sounds perfect to me.” She jabbed Blaine in the ribs as he shot her a look.  
  
Blaine watched them perform the sequence. Without the lights and the smoke it appeared slightly less incriminating but as soon as he mentally put himself in the shoes of the guy playing Pippin he ran into some issues. Kurt was moving around him teasingly, transitioning between the touch of finger tips and full body contact. This was going to be challenging. The attention switched between Kurt and the other Player but was always on Pippin. Blaine put his professional head on, trying to remember some of the basic movements and doing his best to avoid Kurt’s eye.  
  
He jolted back to reality as the track ended and everyone broke character.  
  
“Okay Blaine, let’s try and get you into this.”  
  
Working through the routine slowly was possibly even more testing than the frantic movements that Blaine had observed. Dave’s strong arms pushed him through the first sequence and he could feel the brush of Kurt’s fingers burn through his shirt over his back. As Kurt’s touches became more certain, Blaine had to breathe deeply to stop his muscles tensing under the touch. He was so grateful this sequence didn’t require any singing or dialogue because he was pretty sure any sound he made would come out like he’d inhaled insane amounts of helium. He fought to keep the swell of pressure in his lower abdomen under control as Kurt wound his body around him. Luckily his character was supposed to be pretty clueless in this scene and he hoped they would write off the panicked look on his face as excellent acting and assume it had nothing to do with the fact that Kurt was entirely on top of him.  
  
On the fifth or sixth time repeating the sequence up to speed (Blaine had already lost count and was just trying to keep it together in front of the other cast members) he caught Kurt’s eye as he rolled his body down onto him. Kurt looked devious as his thigh pushed further between Blaine’s legs, rendering any control he’d been managing to maintain completely useless. Kurt jumped off Blaine to complete the final movements of the now up to speed routine and Blaine let out a deep breath as the music finished.  
  
“Great work today everyone. Just one more rehearsal before we can run act one I think. Santana can I speak to you a moment?” And with that the rehearsal dissolved. Blaine pulled himself together and stood up on wobbly legs to gather his things. Most of the dancers started to leave as they had the show to prepare for. Kurt approached Blaine, he had lost the cockiness of his character and had the normal slight smile back.  
  
“What you waiting for?” He asked Blaine, who had gathered his belongings but was still sat with his back against the studio mirror.  
  
“Santana owes me at least 4 coffees.” He couldn’t quite look at Kurt properly yet.  
  
“Maybe today is your lucky day!” He plonked himself down next to Blaine with no grace. “That sequence is a killer on the thighs!”  
  
“Get used to it, you have to do it every night soon.” Well that thought hadn’t occurred to Blaine before now. Every night.  
  
“Somehow I think I’ll survive.”  
  
Santana had finished talking with the dance captain.  
  
“Kurt, that was hot. Blaine, you looked terrified.”  
  
“Well yeah... Acting!” Blaine attempted an excuse.  
  
“Okay yeah sure. Why are you still here?” She was ready in record time and almost out of the door before either of the men had managed to stand up.  
  
“You owe me coffee.” Blaine answered.  
  
“You owe me an explanation as to why you seem to have moved out.” Kurt added.  
  
“You owe me rent.” Blaine said, matter of factly.  
  
“I’m going to stop you there boys. I’m late to meet Brittany so your little problems can wait.” She was already through the door and once again left them both completely awe struck at her ability to control situations.  
  
“Not my lucky day then.” Blaine shouldered his bag.  
  
“Really not my lucky day!” Kurt said tapping at his phone. “Seems the Pippin cast flu has had a second go at some of the chorus. I’m on every night this week as the most background dancer possible. Shit it’s like half one already, I’m going to have to jog through Times Square.”  
  
Blaine was laughing at his little panic and how high pitched his voice had gone. Kurt turned quickly in the lobby and pecked Blaine on the lips.  
  
“Bye Blaine.” He said, taking a brief second to catch a glimpse of his widening pupils before turning to leave.  
  
“Wait!” Blaine secured his hand around Kurt’s upper arm, pulling him back towards him and placing a solid kiss on his mouth. After the initial shock Kurt relaxed under Blaine’s embrace, whimpering lightly when Blaine’s teeth grazed his lips as he pulled back. Kurt searched Blaine’s eyes.  
  
“Really expected me to let you get away with that display back there?” Blaine asked, rolling his eyes towards the studio.  
  
“Maybe today isn’t such an unlucky day after all.” Kurt eventually came out with followed by a heavy silence.  
  
“Woah that was cheesy.” Both men cracked into laughter. “Now fucking run and blow away that NYC audience with the deep and inspiring story of circus performer number 7!”  
  
Kurt had no choice than to hurry out of the building leave Blaine with a grin plastered on his face.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is like entirely fluff, I'm sorry (I'm not)

From Kurt: Break until the evening show. Coffee?  
  
From Blaine: Ugh I wish! Vocal rehearsal :(  
  
From Kurt: Tomorrow?  
  
From Blaine: Costume fitting in the morning then dance rehearsal  
  
From Kurt: I’m doing NYADA workshops all day Friday  
  
From Blaine: And you have 2 shows on Saturday  
  
From Kurt: So... Sunday?  
  
From Blaine: Shit yes! I have the best idea!  
  
From Kurt: You’re scary  
  
From Blaine: But you like me :)  
  
From Kurt: ...yeah  
  
From Blaine: :D  
  
From Kurt: Dork.  
  
-  
  
“Blaaainneeeeeee! Why is your friend so late?” Alfie was kicking at the sidewalk, no longer interested in the strawberry milkshake Blaine had bought to keep him quiet.  
  
“He’s not late. We’re early.” Blaine pointed out, tapping his foot nervously.  
  
“So why did I have to turn of the safari show?” Alfie had a habit of sticking his bottom lip out slightly when he was mad and cutting a show about animals in the desert short to stand on a sidewalk was definitely a reason to be mad.  
  
“Because being late is rude and so is making holes in your shoes!” Blaine scooped up Alfie, making his next kick completely miss the sidewalk and tickled him until he was giggling to the point that he gave up. By the time he put Alfie back on his feet Blaine himself was laughing so hard at the shrieking 6 year old he didn’t notice Kurt stood a couple of meters away, smiling at them in amusement. Alfie spotted him and marched over.  
  
“Are you Kurt?” He asked, confidently.  
  
“I am.” Kurt replied, intending to continue but stopped short when Alfie turned back to Blaine and shouted.  
  
“He’s here, we can go now.”  
  
Blaine was still pulling himself together when Alfie stomped up to him, using the hand that wasn’t already dragging Kurt’s to grab Blaine’s and steer the two men into Central Park. As they were guided through the park by the overexcited boy, Blaine managed to catch Kurt’s eye and mouth ‘sorry’.  
  
“Well now I know what Rachel was like as a child.” Kurt pointed out.  
  
“Wow, scary thought. Hey Alf, slow down. The animals aren’t going to disappear.” Blaine dragged him back a bit as he noticed the busy bike lane they were about to cross.  
  
“Oh my god! Are we going to the zoo?!” Kurt’s voice went even more high pitched than usual and Blaine felt like his stomach had just done a cartwheel.  
  
“Errr yeah, if that’s okay?” Suddenly forcing Kurt to help him babysit seemed like a bad idea and Blaine sounded unsure.  
  
“Of course it’s okay!” Kurt still seemed really excited. “Hey Alfie? Have you been to the zoo before?”  
  
“Err yeah.” Alfie replied bluntly.  
  
“Alfie! Cut the sass.” Blaine scolded earning an amused look from Kurt. “I’m pretty sure this kid knows more than most Zoology graduates about animals.” He explained.  
  
Alfie was sulking slightly after being told off. Blaine knew his mum could be pretty strict with him and had always tried to be more of a friend to Alfie than a figure of authority. Living in the city could be hard on kids. He was just thinking of a way to cheer him up when Kurt cut in.  
  
“Wait, so does that mean you know the difference between the different penguins they have here?” The light burst back into the 6 year old’s eyes and he didn’t notice when Blaine slipped away to buy the tickets, launching into a well rehearsed repetition of the information he had learnt on his last birthday when he spent the day at the zoo with one of the animal carers. Blaine watched fondly as Kurt maintained interest, dropping to Alfie’s level as the kid threw his arms around to punctuate his explanation.  
  
Blaine returned with the tickets, handing all three to Alfie so he could pass them to the barrier guard. He ran forward leaving Kurt and Blaine to follow.  
  
“Are you okay with this?” Blaine asked, sheepishly.  
  
“What? You having a kid?” Kurt joked.  
  
“No, babysitting. On our...” Blaine had almost said date. The unfinished sentence hung in the air.  
  
“I don’t know if this counts as babysitting.” Kurt nodded towards Alfie who was chatting away to one of the workers. “I was going to compliment you on how good you seem to be with kids but that right there is not your average kid.”  
  
Blaine looked fondly at Alfie who had completely won over the worker and was probably talking his way into getting behind the scenes at feeding time, again.  
  
“We have to be quick because they are going to feed the penguins soon.” Alfie stated. “Come on Kurt, I want to show you the feather thing.”  
  
Kurt allowed himself to be dragged again, his amusement apparent in his expression as he looked back to Blaine.  
  
-  
  
A couple of hours later the two men found themselves sat on the steps surrounding the sea lion enclosure while Alfie seemed to have gained a small following of kids all sat with their noses pressed against the glass as he explained everything he knew about the animal to them.  
  
“So what’s the story with him?” Kurt asked.  
  
“He lives in my building. His mum is a violinist and I helped them move in and then I guess I just babysit to help her out every now and then.” Blaine replied, searching through his backpack. “Ah!” He produced three juice pouches. Giving one to Kurt, he got to his feet and took one over to Alfie. He nearly tripped over the backpack sitting back down next to Kurt, who was laughing at him again.  
  
“Juice pouches? You’re a babysitting expert!” Kurt pierced the pouch with the straw and took a drink.  
  
“Hey! Don’t laugh, they’re fucking delicious!” Blaine said loudly, earning a glare from a woman to his right.  
  
“Okay maybe not an expert.”Kurt said quietly, leaning slightly towards Blaine.  
  
“If I swore at Alf he’d probably tell me off.” Blaine pointed out. “Come to think of it, he has. Numerous times.”  
  
“Well he’s a great kid so you can’t be having too bad an effect on him.”  
  
“Oh no no, that’s not me. His mum’s awesome. You have to meet her! She might make it for dinner with us tonight!” Blaine stopped himself for a second. “I mean err... Would you like to come over for dinner tonight?”  
  
Kurt had his closed mouth, crooked smile on as he appeared to be assessing the question.  
  
“Sorry, I tend to get a bit carried away.” Blaine looked down into his lap.  
  
Kurt nudged his knee against Blaine’s to get his attention back.  
  
“I’d love to Blaine. Although I must request that I get to be in charge of dessert.” Kurt watched as Blaine regained his open posture from where he had been curled towards his knees.  
  
“Then I must request that you make some of those delicious cookies we had last week.”  
  
“Great idea! I can get Alfie to be my sous chef!”  
  
Blaine laughed with his head in his hands.  
  
  
“Oh no! My poor apartment!” They both acknowledged the mud on Alfie’s jeans and he had somehow got his scarf and the hood of his coat muddled up.  
“I solemnly promise to leave your kitchen in exactly the same state as I find it when we get to your apartment.” Kurt said, formally.  
  
“That may be mission impossible but I will accept any decent attempt. Okay, time to go!” Blaine pulled himself off the step and considered the distance between himself and Alfie for a few seconds. He turned back to Kurt, grimacing slightly. “Errr... Can you tell him we have to leave? I’m scared.”  
  
“Blaine Anderson, are you scared of children?” Kurt asked, scrambling as elegantly as possible to a standing position.”  
  
“No. I’m just kind of scared of that child...”  
  
“So you decide to leave it to me to face his wrath?” Kurt asked with one eyebrow raised.  
  
“Well yeah. I’m cool Uncle Blaine who doesn’t always make him eat his vegetables and buys him strawberry milkshakes. I have a reputation to uphold.” He puffed out his chest comically and broke Kurt’s facade completely.  
  
“You’re ridiculous.” Kurt said fondly as he marched past Blaine towards the child who was, unbelievably, still talking.  
  
After the promise of baking and a later bedtime, they eventually steered Alfie out of the zoo. Miraculously, they even managed to completely avoid the gift shop with talk of calling by a grocery store to pick up at least three different kinds of chocolate for the cookies. As they made their way out of the park, Blaine brushed the back of his hand against Kurt’s. Kurt jolted at the contact and Blaine moved away slightly, silently reprimanding himself. Before he knew it, Kurt’s hand was back and cupped in his, giving his palm a little squeeze. Blaine looked over and Kurt was humming to himself and watching Alfie jumping the gaps in the paving on the sidewalk.  
  
-  
  
Julie entered the apartment to the sight of Blaine attempting to clear away dishes, with flour streaked in his out of place hairstyle. Her little boy was curled up sound asleep against a pale man with a thick, perfectly coiffed mop of hair on the couch.  
  
“Hey Jules. How was the gig?” Blaine asked in a hushed tone.  
  
Julie placed her bag on the only spare part of the breakfast bar and leant her violin case against the wall.  
  
“Great! It was a really beautiful wedding. How’s he been?” She glanced back over at her sleeping son and Kurt smiled at her, not moving or speaking to avoid waking him up.  
  
“Spent most of the day teaching all the kids in New York about Sea Lions.”  
  
“Sounds about right.”  
  
“Oh by the way Julie, this is Kurt. He’s my... He’s err...He’s one of my castmates in Pippin.” Blaine fumbled over his words. Kurt waved with his free arm. Julie checked Kurt’s eyes were trained back on the TV before mouthing “he’s cute” to Blaine, who nodded as a slight blush spread up his cheeks.  
  
“Delicious homemade cookie?” Blaine asked, gesturing to the half empty cooling rack on the table.  
  
“Ah so that’s why you look like you are greying prematurely.” She pointed up to Blaine’s hair as she crossed the room to grab a cookie. He smoothed his hair self consciously.  
  
“Funny. I’ll get you a plate.” He said, assessing the pile of dishes to be put away and trying to slide a side plate out of the centre of the tower. He managed and triumphantly spun to present the plate to Julie, catching his sleeve on the pot of cutlery and sending the whole thing crashing to the ground. Alfie’s eyes shot open and he covered his face with his hands against the bright light in the apartment.  
  
“Blaine?” He asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.  
  
“No Alf, it’s Kurt but your mum’s back.” Kurt said helping him into a sitting position. Julie was taken aback by the clear high voice emanating from the tall man.  
  
“Hi mum.” He said, squinting across to the kitchen.  
  
“Hi sweetie. Have you had a nice day with Blaine and Kurt?” Julie crossed the room and perched on the sofa arm next to the boy.  
  
“Yeah. Kurt didn’t know the difference between the two types of penguin.” He said, like it was obvious general knowledge.  
  
“Well I’m sure you told him.” She moved a curl of hair off Alfie’s forehead, laughing when Kurt confirmed with a nod of his head.  
  
“It’s all in the feathers you see.” Kurt added.  
  
“Really? I didn’t know that.” Julie said, laughing.  
  
“You did mum! I told you!” The sarcasm was lost on Alfie.  
  
“I know you did sweetie, I was joking.” All of them were now smiling fondly at the boy who didn’t quite get what was so funny.  
  
“Okay! Say bye to Blaine and Kurt, you need a bath!” Julie said getting up and starting to gather his things together.  
  
Alfie obediently took his empty cookie plate into the kitchen and said goodbye and thank you to Blaine with a hug. He was about to leave the apartment behind Julie before he remembered about Kurt and ran back to give him a quick hug. He skipped back towards the door and ducked under his mum’s arm where she was holding the door open.  
  
“Thanks a lot guys. I’ll catch up with you later Blaine.” She attempted to wave but it didn’t really work with arms full of Alfie’s belongings.  
  
“Yeah, bye Jules.”  
  
“Nice to meet you!” Kurt called as the door swung closed.  
  
Blaine picked up the two mugs of tea he had just made and made his way across to the couch.  
  
“Sorry about that, I didn’t think he would fall asleep that quickly after all the sugar I gave him today.” Blaine handed Kurt a mug and sat down.  
  
“It’s fine. I always get jealous of how quickly kids can get to sleep.” Kurt accepted the warm tea gratefully.  
  
“Just so long as you didn’t have any other plans tonight except being a child’s human pillow.”  
  
“Nope, none at all. Although I am about to miss the new Real Housewives episode.” Kurt hinted.  
  
“Oh god, I was hoping you would say that.” Blaine keyed in the memorised channel number for the TV show. They sat in a comfortable silence through the remaining ads.  
  
“Blaine?” Kurt got his attention. “C’mere.”  
  
Kurt scooted over to provide a space for Blaine to lay against him. Blaine curled up into his side. His stomach swooped every time he felt Kurt laugh slightly as he matched his breathes to the rise and fall of Kurt’s chest.


End file.
